Minnesota State celebrated a special senior day Saturday with a 7-5 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference win over Southwest Minnesota State at Bowyer Field.
With the score tied at 4-4 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, Mavericks’ graduate first baseman Ike Mezzenga sliced a three-run home run over the left-center field fence to give Minnesota State a school-record 36 conference wins. The No. 7-ranked Mavericks close out the regular season at 44-5 overall and 36-4 in NSIC play.
“A lot of these guys have been in the program for four or five years so it was great to get them a win,” Mezzenga, a transfer from the University of Minnesota, said. “There was a really good turnout today so that made it a lot of fun. Good teams get it done when it matters even though you might not have your best stuff. You still find ways to get runs and outs. That’s why this team is so successful.
“Everyone on this team can come off the bench and get it done, that’s impressive. I feel like I’ve been due for a while and I got the right pitch. I didn’t try to do too much with it and went the other way and it worked out. I had two strikes on me so I just wanted to put it in play and it ended up going over the fence. Winning brings fun times and I’ve never won like this before. … This is a great group of guys.”
The Mustangs (23-24, 18-22) scored a pair of runs in the top of the first when Mavericks’ starter Louis Magers hit a batter and New Ulm native Carter Lang blasted a two-run homer over the left field fence. Magers departed an inning later with the bases loaded and one out. Graduate left-hander Jacob Gajic came in to set down the next nine Mustangs before leaving the contest with one out in the fifth.
“It has been great right from the start,” Gajic, a transfer from Northwest Missouri State, said. “The program is really focusing on winning and everyone welcomed me. My whole college career has been to get out of jams, so while I might not be comfortable in those situations, I get very excited. I have moments where I leave runners on base and my teammates get me out of it, so it’s nice to help your teammates out.
“I was throwing all my pitches in the zone and in the same area in keeping the hitters off balance. I didn’t see a lot of confident swings. It seemed like whatever I threw they were guessing. This means a lot, especially to the guys that have been here for a while but we also have more baseball ahead so we don’t want to get caught up in it. … Everyone wants to see each other succeed so that makes for a cool culture here.”
Minnesota State trimmed the deficit to 2-1 in its first at bat when Mezzenga reach on an infield single and scored on a scorching double down the left-field line by junior shortstop Aidan Byrne, who turned in a terrific day with the leather. After a double by senior right fielder Zach Stroh along with singles from Jake Berkland and catcher Nick Baker produced a pair of second-inning runs, Magers smacked his 16th home run of the season to put the Mavs ahead 4-2 after five frames.
“This is a special group with a lot of them being here since they were freshmen,” Minnesota State coach Matt Magers said. “I am proud of how the guys have come together and developed such great chemistry. I think the eighth inning exemplifies who we are when Tanner Thompson comes in the game after sitting on the bench for two hours and puts down a sacrifice bunt to get our big bat in Mezzenga to the plate.”
Lang, who along with Owen Latendresse ripped three hits apiece for the Mustangs, delivered a two-run single to tie things in the seventh off right-hander Ean DiPasquale to tie things before Logan Miller’s single sparked the winning surge. DiPasquale pitched the final 4 1/3 innings to even his record at 1-1.